Completed - 1/21/2022

A big reason why I want to watch "To Fly with you" is because of Wang An Yu (ML). I fell in love with him when watching "Forever Love", my favorite young adult drama. I could still imagine his loving gazes and I am glad to see them in this drama as well. However, his character here is very different than in "Forever Love".

This drama is quite similar to "Skate into Love". We have our leads struggling to succeed or to maintain their reputation in their respective sports. We see issues with initial team chemistry, rivalries, sportsmanship, love triangles, etc. However, this drama feels a lot "younger". The characters are all college students, but I feel like I was watching a high school drama, based on the way they talk and act. And because of this, I didn't enjoy the romance as much as I thought I would. It's probably because I am older and I am not the target audience. I don't recall feeling that way when I was watching "Skate into Love".

This drama is probably made to promote Beijing's Winter Olympics in February 2022. I would think the government might have provided a little funding. But the number of product placements in this drama is quite amazing. We have the usual drinks, snacks, skin care, face masks.... but also apps on phone for cleaning service and job searches. I guess the government didn't pay much or at all, and it costs a lot of money for the actors to be trained.

One aspect I enjoy about this drama is the skating. Of course we know that the difficult jumps are not done by the actors, and they probably speed up the skating (esp. ML's final skate when executing difficult jumps). However, I rarely feel like I am watching bad/fake skating. I applaud the actors' ability to skate and act like they know what they are doing. FL is the only person that looks a little off to me when there's a close-up shot of her face when speed skating. I also enjoy the way the drama tries to educate the audience on the more technical aspects of speed skating and figure skating. I never knew the importance of having a teammate supporting and coordinating with you in speed skating (I thought it's a loner sport).

As a romance junkie, I have to talk about the romance here. The first half of the drama was quite fun for the main romance, though a little cringey at times. However, I am most annoyed with the confession miscommunication because it's so easy to just speak up instead of stuttering and holding back. Wang An Yu (ML) and Song Zu Er (FL) look good together and have good chemistry. Both of them are able to get down and dirty to act silly and embarrassing. Once the leads got together, it's quite smooth-sailing, less cringey but more sugary. On the other hand, the secondary romance took up too much screen time, and I find the character, Zhu Le Le (2FL) quite annoying. I wish the drama has lessened this romance and kept the drama at 30 episode-long.

Another weird thing I like about this drama is how sweaty and normal the athletes look. We don't have girls in full make-up trying to exercise. The girls really look like they're training hard and exhausted every day. My favorite character in this drama is Coach Zhuang, played by Pu Miao. She's such a good actress, esp. among all these young actors. She was tough as nails when coaching and screaming at the girls, but on the other hand, she was so vulnerable and hesitant when she saw her son.

I would recommend "To Fly With You" to those who enjoy a cute and fluffy sports drama.